


where there's a will there is a way

by cluelesskaru



Category: ASTRO (Band), The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Awkward Flirting, Clueless Gay Moon Bin, Confident Gay Kim Younghoon, Crossover, Gay Disaster Lee Dongmin, Gay Disaster Lee Jaehyun, Gay Panic, Idiots in Love, M/M, OT4, Open Relationships, Polyamory, Pre-OT4, Self-Indulgent, Swimming
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-01-23 15:44:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18552805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cluelesskaru/pseuds/cluelesskaru
Summary: ok, so i heard this from my cousin's friend who's dating a girl who goes to the same school as lee dongmin, you remember him? ofc you do, he was totally our school's prince, right? dreamy af. and like, do you remember his hot boyfriend? he was a year younger than us and he was on the swim team from our rival school? right, and also, you know hyunjae and younghoon? ye, the hot dumbasses, they were in our class for that one semester in second year. ok, so, hana said— she's the one who's dating my friend's cousin and she's 100% reliable — anyway, hana said that they totally hooked up! the four of them! i don't know!! isn't that like, buckwild???





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **disclaimer:** in this i always call the boyz' lee jaehyun as hyunjae. always. nct's jung jaehyun shows up in this fic and he's the only one i call jaehyun. so:
> 
> nct's jung jaehyun = jaehyun
> 
> the boyz' lee jaehyun = hyunjae
> 
> that being said, the "main pairing" is, in fact,  **bin/dongmin** , but  **hyunjae/younghoon**  also get a lot of spotlight (specially on this first chapter).

“he's literally so cute, what the fuck?” hyunjae dries his sweaty hands on his pants and younghoon snickers. “remind me why i'm the one who has to do this again?”

“because last time i talked up minghao all on my own while you hid in a corner,” younghoon states without a blink.

hyunjae hisses. “why are we such sluts?”

younghoon snickers again but slaps hyunjae's shoulder too. “hyunjae-ah!”

“ow.” hyunjae massages where he was hit. “but, no, seriously, do we really want me to do this so bad?”

“yes, we do. you literally just said how cute he is.”

“but he's cute _and_ hot!” hyunjae says with his outside voice and younghoon pinches him to keep it down. hyunjae doesn't even flinch but continues in a milder tone. “i'm intimidated.”

younghoon raises his eyebrows, crossing his arms. “are you implying i'm not cute or hot?”

hyunjae's expression clears up from anxiety and he turns his eyes back to younghoon with a mean glint on them. “i know how you look like when you cum, no magic there.” younghoon this time punches hyunjae's shoulder. hard. hyunjae holds the place immediately, without flinching. “alright, i deserved that.”

younghoon hums in agreement and starts fixing hyunjae's shirt and then his hair, his eyes darting to the same direction hyunjae has gone back to ogling.

the party isn't crowded— mostly because it's not a full fledged party. not yet, at least. they're standing in a corner, face to face, and trying their hardest to not be obvious about who they're totally staring at.

“i thought minghao invited us because he wanted to start seeing us again,” hyunjae grumbles, leaning into younghoon's touch on muscle memory.

“i'm pretty sure he's seeing that freshman now, something-hansol.”

hyunjae makes a disgusted face. “they'll look hot together.”

it's not hard to keep an eye on their new object of desire; the small crowd gathered here is mostly made up of people from their year, even if from different majors. everyone is friends with someone and they all at least know of mingyu one way or the other; he's been throwing parties in his not-frat-house ever since the first week of classes and he and his housemates put together seem to know literally every single junior in campus.

the guy in question, however, did not join college on the same batch as them, so that means he must be new. cute-as- a-button new, unfathomably hot, wearing a sleeveless shirt and arrived on a motorbike. to be honest hyunjae is the one who nearly had an aneurism when they saw the guy arrive so younghoon isn't sure why his boyfriend is being such a big baby about it. it's cute, though.

younghoon gives hyunjae a quick kiss, just because he can, and hyunjae barely has time to reciprocate. hyunjae is cute, no matter how loud and obnoxious he is, and younghoon wants him to go and get them some fresh ass before he dies of old age.

and then, like there is a heaven and there is a lord saviour up there, the group of people talking to the sleeveless biker guy seems to clear out and he starts making his way into the kitchen, all on his own.

“now's your chance.” younghoon pats hyunjae's shoulders and hyunjae turns to him, having gone back to his panicky face.

“don't you think we should be a united front in this?”

younghoon wants to frown and ask hyunjae what's wrong, but he holds it in for a second, assessing his boyfriend: hyunjae's not drunk or anything else. he's also not overly horny, they had a nice go before getting ready to come over. but, younghoon is well aware that chaeyoung and minghao had been his own picks, so it's about time they do something for hyunjae.

“sure,” he finally says. “do we go for making him think it was his idea or do you just wanna wing it?”

hyunjae puts his thumb in his mouth and bites his fingernail for a moment. “let's just wing it.”

younghoon nods and starts making way, trusting hyunjae will follow.

the kitchen is empty sans hot dude; he's by the counter, rifling through the drinks there. younghoon pushes his hair back and leans on the counter so he can peek and the guy's face.

"hey," he says.

when the guy looks at him, younghoon flashes him his best grin right when hyunjae takes his place next to him and lets out a charming little "what's up?"

the guy has pale pink hair and looks baffled for a second, then he smiles. it's the most adorable smile, younghoon almost coos.

"hi!"

"i'm kim younghoon and this is lee jaehyun, we're both juniors."

"it's hyunjae." he elbows younghoon, making a face, but then stops short when the guy snickers.

"oh, nice to meet you," the guy bows his head. "my name's moon bin, i'm a freshman."

younghoon coos, he can't hold it in. "even your name is cute?" he pouts. "unfair."

moon bin scratches the back of his neck, looking confused but still very flattered. younghoon shares a furtive look with hyunjae. what the fuck? can a dude look like this and not be used to being flirted with? that doesn't add up.

"what are you guys majoring in?"

"business," younghoon and hyunjae say in unison.

"my dad is rich," younghoon says.

"and my dad wants to be rich." hyunjae adds.

and then they say it at the same time again that "we both hate it."

they've said this so often to so many people that it stopped being funny— even if in reality they knew it was lame and it was never really funny, they did it because who fucking cares about being lame with your boyfriend, right? in retrospect, that's not the right way to go about it when you're trying to hit on someone. but bin laughs and claps and it's adorable enough that both hyunjae and younghoon perk up. the guy might not be used to attention but he is focused on them nonetheless.

"both of you hate school?"

younghoon and hyunjae exchange a look.

"it's not so bad right now," younghoon says with another smile.

"what's your major?" hyunjae asks.

the guy keeps darting his eyes from one face to the other like he can't decide who to look at. "i'm a physiology major."

"that means you want to be a…?"

"physical therapist!" moon bin laughs again, easy and light. "i could go into other things, but i wanna be a sports physical therapist."

while the two talk, younghoon cranes his neck and inspects the drinks on the counter. moon bin has an empty cup but has abandoned whatever he had been about to do in order to turn his attention to both he and hyunjae and, as good as this is for what they have in mind, younghoon needs to do something fast to keep moon bin interested; with this much attention right from the get go makes it easier to lose interest fast too and that's something they definitely do not want. the conversation sort of starts fizzing off after hyunjae asks a couple more questions, even with how promptly moon bin is answering them.

"what are you drinking?" hyunjae asks, turning to look at the bottles too.

younghoon is relieved that his boyfriend's third eye remains wide open, picking up his panicky brain waves.

"oh, i was having a beer but felt ready for something a bit stronger. any suggestions?"

"i know where jungkook keeps the tequila."

younghoon stops to turn to hyunjae at that because he never knew about that or much less that jungkook kept any tequila hidden anywhere. the gall the guy has is unreal. "how do you know that?"

younghoon sees moon bin raise his eyebrows with the corner of his eye, but now his attention is heavy on hyunjae, who merely shrugs.

"i had some with minghao once."

younghoon's chin drops. "that's cheating."

hyunjae, being the little shit he is, has the audacity to snort. "don't pretend you don't want some."

"that's besides the point."

hyunjae pushes away from the counter, heading for one of the cabinets next to the fridge, he goes on the tips of his toes to reach for the top of it, runs his hands around for a bit — younghoon doesn't fail to hum in appreciation for his boyfriend's figure and checks to make sure that moon bin is looking too (he is) — and then hyunjae pulls a bottle of josé cuervo from it.

"get out of here," younghoon deadpans. "i can't believe that was actually there."

"are we allowed to drink that?" moon bin sounds confused as younghoon goes to hyunjae, who has a triumphant grin on his face.

he snatches the bottle out of hyunjae's hands, who winks at him and goes for the shot glasses inside another cabinet.

"bin-ssi," younghoon says, going back to moon bin's side and wrapping one arm around his (impressive) shoulders. "have you ever heard of the expression _sharing is caring?"_

"call me bin, you're my sunbae." bin says, before putting one hand on top of younghoon's resting on his shoulder. younghoon smiles largely at that. "but wasn't that tequila hidden for a reason?"

"yes it was." hyunjae answers, putting three glasses on top of the counter. "it was hidden up there so i could find it safely for us right about now." he goes back to rifle through another cabinet. "now we just need..." he crouches to look inside a cabinet under the sink, his torso going nearly completely inside it to reach for something. younghoon is well aware that bin is checking hyunjae's ass as much as he is. "bbang, get the lemons inside the fridge."

younghoon pouts, but let's bin go to do as he's told. they get the lemons and salt and the bottle of tequila and bin is watching them closely with a confused expression, but he still looks ready to follow the lead.

it's a good enough first impression, younghoon thinks. they're having fun. they're getting drunk. so maybe they don't get to bring moon bin over to their studio apartment tonight, but they're paving the way, this is good enough.

hyunjae cuts the lemons and gives each of them a slice, while younghoon puts the salt on their hands.

"you should do the honors, bin." hyunjae tosses his head to the side to get his fringe off his eyes, shot in one hand and lemon in the other, mirroring the other two.

bin bows his head with a chuckle. for a second they worry the freshman won't do it, but when he raises his head, he has a mighty smirk on him. "one, two, three— bottoms up!"

they all drink and pull faces at the taste. or, at least, younghoon does, and both hyunjae and bin laugh at his expense. tequila is good but also gross. younghoon does appreciate the burn down his throat, though.

younghoon looks at bin's shoulders and his collarbones in plain sight from the wide collar of his shirt and feels the immense urge to do body shots. he really gets why hyunjae was immediately attracted to bin, he's hot as fuck. it's a good thing that it's hyunjae's turn to pick, no one can ever say the man has bad taste.

"who do you guys know from the house?" bin asks.

"i'm on the swim team with jung jaehyun."

"we're also pretty close with minghao," hyunjae puts it simply and younghoon can't help the giggle. "and we pretty much go way back with most of them."

"whoa, i'm impressed we haven't met before, i'm friends with everyone, woojae-hyung has even been trying to get me to join the swim team."

younghoon perks up. "you any good?"

"made it to nationals." bin shrugs.

"not bad, not bad…"

"what about you?" hyunjae asks. "who do you know in the house?"

"oh, do you guys know lee dongmin? he went to high school with yugyeom-hyung, he's my—"

"here you are!" dongmin himself shows up at the kitchen door right then, as if he was goddamn summoned. he has a huge smile and his face is flushed. he looks drunk. "i was looking all over for you, binnie!"

bin laughs, exchanging a glance with younghoon and hyunjae with a giant smile as if saying _look at this fool_ and he opens his arms so dongmin can throw himself on them, planting a floppy kiss on bin's cheek.

"this is my very drunk boyfriend." bin laughs at dongmin making himself smaller to snuggle into his arms. "lucky me."

"oh," both younghoon and hyunjae say, before sharing a look of their own.

"hey, guys," dongmin says, with a big smile. "haven't seen you two in a while."

bin furrows his eyebrows.

"we went to the same high school too," younghoon feels compelled to explain. "we just weren't in the same class."

bin makes the cutest surprised face, younghoon takes hyunjae's hand and squeezes it. it is a wonder they haven't met before. everyone knows that dongmin entered university whilst still dating his one year younger high school boyfriend. dongmin wasn't even in the same department as younghoon and hyunjae, but last year everyone talked about was the gorgeous pre-med freshman who was doing the travesty of entering college life already committed to someone.

they had heard that dongmin was also friends with everyone from mingyu's group and apparently had declined the invitation to live with them in order to have more peace living in the dorms until he could share a room with his boyfriend when he finally joined him.

it also explains why bin hadn't seem to even realise he was being flirted with. who in their right mind would dare hit on lee dongmin's boyfriend?? if they had at least a couple of brain cells, that is. between younghoon and hyunjae they certainly don't total up a single complete brain cell. it isn't that dongmin would actually do something terrible about it, he's a pretty nice guy, but like, what's the point of in hitting on someone who has a boyfriend that looks like that??

hyunjae leans his head on younghoon's shoulder and sighs. younghoon reaches up and pats his boyfriend's head. this has to have been the quickest failure of their entire career. and that's taking into consideration that one time they tried hitting on sincheng and their classmate had only laughed at them.

dongmin intertwines his fingers with bin, places a kiss on his neck from where his head is perched on his boyfriend's shoulder. younghoon doesn't fail to notice that he has hyunjae on him in much the same way. and then dongmin turns his attention back to them.

"how have you two been?"

"oh, you know…" hyunjae trails off awkwardly.

"we were doing shots."younghoon hastes to add, squeezing hyunjae closer with an arm around his waist. "wanna join?"

dongmin looks at bin, who cocks his eyebrows. "yeah," dongmin says, looking back at younghoon and hyunjae. "sure, why not."

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is THE most self-indulgent thing i've ever written and i'm having so much fun writing it that it's ok if no one reads it lmao but it you did read it! make sure to leave me a comment and/or a kudo so i know i'm not talking to the walls. also omg i can't believe this is my first astro fic..... what a way to get here. i blame idol radio.
> 
> fic is mostly written, updates will be every week (mondays) or faster, depending on how terrible my irl is atm.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "bin?" dongmin croaks. his throat is aching and he gulps trying to get his voice to work better. "what did we do last night?"
> 
> bin groans again, tightening his arms around dongmin and burying his nose on his hair.
> 
> "we died."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember!  
> lee jaehyun = lee hyunjae from the boyz uwu

dongmin wakes up but doesn't dare opening his eyes.

he comes to feeling the sun overheating his left foot, probably from a crack in the curtain and with the weird feeling of having a sock on his right foot but nothing on the left one, that he can practically feel tanning from the glare of the sun.

he still doesn't open his eyes, but wiggles his foot back under the duvet and turns around inside bin's arms, nosing his boyfriend's neck. bin smells like alcohol. the more dongmin stirs awake, the more he notices his own discomfort: his tongue is as good as glued to the back of his teeth, his stomach feels gross and his head hurts.

bin moves a little too, a small groan rumbling his chest. dongmin tries to cling to sleep, tries to ground himself on unconsciousness; where his body isn't aching and he doesn't have to think. thinking— oh god, when did he have so much to drink?

"bin?" he croaks. his throat is aching and he gulps trying to get his voice to work better. "what did we do last night?"

bin groans again, tightening his arms around dongmin and burying his nose on his hair.

"we died."

normally, dongmin would either bodily react to bin's deep sleepy voice or at least laugh at his answer. instead, he finally opens his eyes. dongmin literally doesn't remember what they did last night.

today is… a sunday. this was the last week of finals and, after sleeping all day on saturday, bin and dongmin were getting dressed to go look for their first meal of the day when dongmin got a mass text from mingyu. it said:

FUCK SCHOOL! LET'S GET DRUNK!!!!!

no more information was provided, but being more than familiar with mingyu's m.o since hazing week, dongmin knew it meant they were invited to come over with booze.

he remembers considering not going but changing his mind when bin said he wanted to celebrate being done with finals. then… they went. he remembers bin hitting it off with a bunch of people right away, as always, and then dongmin… got pulled into beer pong? by yugyeom, and he was very shit at it and got drunk very fast and then when he looked, bin wasn't where he had left him anymore— he was… in the kitchen with lee jaehyun and kim younghoon. right. and then they

"bin, did we do body shots with lee jaehyun and kim younghoon??" he's shocked at his own question. all he has for memories are some flashes.

they were having tequila in the kitchen… then he just has this perfect mental picture of doing a shot out of bin's stomach?? and then encouraging younghoon to do the same??

"hmm." bin nods.

"did i— did i do a body shot out of jaehyun's stomach??"

"he goes by hyunjae," bin mumbles. "it was only fair though, younghoon did one on me."

dongmin shudders.

"how wasted was i??"

"probably the drunkest i've ever seen you."

"why did you let me do that!?" dongmin nearly shouts and sits up.

he regrets it at once. his head is spinning and his stomach is churning. bin groans loudly, latching on dongmin's hips, trying to pull him back down.

"don't make me move," bin whines, eyes still squeezed shut.

"bin, this is serious, why did we do body shots??"

dongmin can feel his face overheated to the point of combustion. he's mortified. he was never close to lee jaehyun!

bin finally opens his eyes, possibly due to dongmin's panicked tone. he looks up with a frown and sits up, finding dongmin's hands fisting the sheets and proceeds to make him unclench his fingers so they can hold hands.

"because body shots are fun," bin puts it simply. "it was just us, we were having fun, everyone agreed to do it— including you."

bin says everything camly, with a soothing voice, but dongmin is breathing hard enough that it echoes in their room.

"whose idea was it?"

bin frowns again, thinking for a moment.

"it was younghoon-hyung who came up with it, i guess. but i volunteered."

dongmin squeezes bin's hand. "you're calling him hyung."

"he licked my abs i don't think we need that many honorifics anymore." he says it with a shrug and dongmin's jaw drops. bin widens his eyes. "i'm sorry!" he hurries to say. "i thought you were okay with it! you did it first and then you told them to do it!"

"i'm not angry, or jealous, i'm just— so embarrassed."

"oh." bin deflates, then smiles. "you're so cute."

dongmin blushes more, letting bin pull him in for a quick peck. "i went to school with them but we were never close. they've been boyfriends forever."

"then it's the same as us. they're fun, we had fun."

"i don't remember much, but— i guess so. i think i had fun."

bin nods, and leans in again to kiss dongmin's forehead.

"you hadn't let loose like that in so long. it was good to see, i was glad."

dongmin smiles. "sap."

bin laughs and lets go of dongmin's hands in order to flop back down on the bed. "shut up, you're such a fake prude, don't act like you've never had fun in your life."

dongmin rolls his eyes for nothing, since bin can't see it. then he feels all of his joints and every single bone creak as he drags himself out of the bed. "i'll get us water," he mutters.

"and you're old." dongmin rolls his eyes again at bin's reply. "and you shouldn't roll your eyes at me."

dongmin does it once more out of spite, well aware that bin hadn't seen the second one and won't see this third as he walks out of the bedroom.

he's not as nervous as just a moment ago, but he's still trying his hardest to remember everything about the night before and… he can't. there's only bits and pieces here and there — he hadn't realized how much he had has to drink — and it bugs him that he can't recall the whole thing.

he goes for water and the tylenol they keep strategically stashed in their small kitchen for mornings such as this one. he downs his pill and then takes one back into the bedroom for bin, sure his boyfriend needs one as much as him.

bin looks already gone to the world when dongmin stops by the bed, but he uses his foot to tap bin's leg. "hey, you need this."

bin grunts and rolls around, burying his face on the pillow. he says something that dongmin almost doesn't catch but sounds like a muffled "need what?"

"it's a tylenol, c'mon."

bin groans loudly again but does sit up and extends his hands, without so much of opening his eyes. dongmin chuckles and puts the glass on one of his hands and the medicine on the other, like the good boyfriend that he is. once bin is done and flops back on the bed, dongmin puts the glass on the nightstand and does just the same.

he can deal with this mess once he's had enough sleep, it's too early for this.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, so i wasn't going to update this until monday,,,, but as i predicted, life is terrible atm and i needed to put something out.  
> i'm having a lot of fun with this, writing dumb boys doing dumb boy things soothes my soul like nothing else.
> 
> if you're reading this, pls consider maybe leaving me a kudos and a comment? so i know i'm not talking to the walls? thanks!
> 
> i'm on [twitter](https://twitter.com/cluelesskaru) and [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/clulesskaru) :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hyunjae drops his hands on the mattress and lowers his head until he can speak right on his boyfriend's ear.
> 
> "young, this is it, i think i peaked."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the monday update! on the shorter side since the previous chapter was early (tho some chapters might be pretty short since i'm keeping most of them to a single scene)

somewhere else in campus, there's a dorm where the two single beds are pushed together against the wall, with a tv turned on on the opposite side of the room. there's nothing playing in it, just a blue screen where previously a netflix show had been playing until the ones watching it fell asleep. netflix probably went into it's very judgy Are You Still Watching? and then their ps4 probably turned itself off after too much idle time. if only their tv was smart enough to shut itself too. right now, though, turning it off requires movement from hyunjae and, right this moment? he doesn't want to move.

the blue glow of the tv casts enough light for him to make out his boyfriend's face in the dark and hyunjae burrows closer until he can hide his nose on younghoon's neck. it's sunday, they have no reason at all to get out of bed today and hyunjae has no intention to do so. there's only a mild headache pulsing behind his eyes but it's totally manageable. he can ignore it.

hyunjae presses his leg between younghoon's until they're tangled together and snakes an arm over his hips. his boyfriend stirs and puts an arm over hyunjae too, letting out a soft hum, but doesn't seem to wake up. it's so comfortable, they never ever need to get up. younghoon is the cuddliest person hyunjae knows, and he would never admit this to anyone but younghoon himself, but sleeping together close like this is definitely one of his favorite things ever and he wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world.

he closes his eyes and is about to drift back into the beautiful world of slumber when his phone buzzes. it alerts him some but hyunjae just borrows closer to younghoon and lets his mind drift off. then it buzzs again. and again. and again. and who in this god forsaken earth is blowing up his notifications at this ever loving hour??

younghoon moves and hyunjae stays frozen in place, he doesn't even breathe, because if younghoon wakes up—

"what's going on?" younghoon mumbles.

"shh, nothing's on," hyunjae pats his boyfriend's hip very gently. "you're dreaming."

the phone buzzes again and then a second time for good measure. younghoon wiggles on hyunjae's arms until he turns his back to him. "why do you have notifications on what kind of monster are you."

hyunjae sighs. he's the dumbest monster ever. he'd bet his own ass that it's not even anything important.

his phone buzzes again.

"turn that off or i'll kill you," younghoon mumbles with a lot of feeling.

and there goes hyunjae's precious sleep.

sometimes you gotta accept your losses. hyunjae turns to their nightstand and feels around until he finds his phone that he brings inside the covers and close to his face to see who's the gremlin from hell spamming him at— one pm on a sunday. okay, so it's not as early as hyunjae thought it was, but even so! someone better be dying to be blowing up his notifications like this.

he unlocks his phone and goes into his messaging app, to find that all the messages are coming from… his __dick squad 97__ group chat. seriously? he thought he had that muted a year ago. before checking any messages he goes into configurations to find out that, yes, he did have that group silenced exactly a year ago today and so it has expired. with a sigh, hyunjae silences it again.

now, onto why they won't shut up.

the first few messages are the usual, some jokes about not remembering the night before, asking for help to cure their deathbed hangovers, nothing new, and then— photos. it starts off like this:

 

****bambam @ 1:38PM** **

yo bitches

i tiok so many pics last nght

who wants to check?

 

then there's a string of emojis from multiple participants and then the photos start. hyunjae finds himself scrolling through them with growing amusement. there's a few priceless shots in midst if them. he's going to personally thank bambam for a picture there of sicheng goddamn slut dropping with a duck face in the middle of their living-room, he's never going to let his friend live that down, never in a million years.

then he scrolls down a little further and finds himself. it's a blurry shot and to be honest he wouldn't be able to tell who were the people in this picture if one of them wasn't himself. with his shirt raked up and out of the way, lying on the floor for christ's sake, with lee dongmin doing a body shot out of his stomach. yeah. so that's a thing that happened.

that's a thing that—

"holy shit!" he jumps up on the bed, holding his phone closer and zooming in. "younghoon! i can't fucking— young! wake up!" he starts laughing. because maybe this wasn't in the forefront of his mind when he first woke up but he __does__ remember this. he remembers this __vividly__.

younghoon turns back towards him on the bed and blearily looks up at him. "what?"

"last night lee dongmin licked my abs."

"hm," younghoon nods, wiggling closer until he puts his head on hyunjae's lap. "and so did moon bin and i."

"right, the two of you did too." hyunjae cackles, zooming in on another section of the photo to the blurs he knows to be them— the pink hair really makes it easier to spot bin.

"i'm glad you had a good time, babe." younghoon mumbles. he's ready to go back to sleep while hyunjae is ready to skyrocket out of his own ass.

hyunjae cackles again. he's going to buy bambam at least a couple of beers as a thank you for immortalizing the moment school prince lee dongmin licked his gotdamn stomach!

hyunjae drops his hands on the mattress and lowers his head until he can speak right on his boyfriend's ear.

"young, this is it, i think i peaked."

that makes younghoon move enough to grab his pillow and hit hyunjae right on the face. "shut yo mouth, you peaked the day i said yes to dating you, bumbass."

hyunjae only blinks after being hit, drops a kiss on younghoon's forehead on auto pilot and then picks his phone up and swipes to see the next picture. "yes, thank you, my love," he says while going through the other pictures. they aren't as good and besides a few other blurry shots of the kitchen, hyunjae, younghoon, dongmin don't show up in any other pictures.

 

****hyunjae @ 01:46PM** **

thanks u for my life, bam

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading! don't forget to kudo and say hello! more humorous dumb boy messes are coming :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dongmin takes a deep breath, making sure his nerves are in check. it's alright, asking a couple of questions shouldn't be a problem, right? he's being careful of who he chose to talk to already— if he asked about his own whereabouts during the party to, say, bambam or yugyeom, he'd never hear the end of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> monday update!
> 
> ok, reminder that:
> 
> nct's jung jaehyun = jaehyun = woojae
> 
> the boyz' lee jaehyun = hyunjae
> 
> i might just ctrl+c ctrl+v this every chapter lol

dongmin takes a deep breath, making sure his nerves are in check. it's alright, asking a couple of questions shouldn't be a problem, right? he's being careful of who he chose to talk to already— if he asked about his own whereabouts during the party to, say, bambam or yugyeom, he'd never hear the end of it.

so he's being wise about it and picking someone he's pretty certain will keep the teasing to a minimum. too bad that from the little he remembers he wasn't with jungkook or minghao at the start of the party; the two of them would be much better for this moment.

dongmin nods to himself and pulls a chair opposite of the boy with laser focus on his book and leans in.

"yah, woojae-ah." dongmin waves to catch jung jaehyun's attention.

they're at the library, so dogmin used his slightest tone, but even so, jaehyun looks up promptly.

"oh, hey minnie, what's up?" he whispers back, a sunny smile on his face.

they're both taking pre-med classes together so, as much as jaehyun isn't as level headed as jungkook or minghao, at least dongmin is glad that they're close and that jaehyun is someone that understands him more than most. he takes another breath, a small one, so he doesn't alert his friend, and asks what he came to ask.

"do you remember anything from saturday?"

jaehyun promptly chuckles, covering his mouth with his hand to keep it quiet.

"you were sure having a nice time," he teases.

and jaehyun didn't even say anything too outrageous, especially by his standards, but dongmin still feels himself blush.

"w—well?"

"right, yeah, sure i do. i never really get blackouts from drinking."

"oh." lucky bastard. dongmin scratches the back of his neck, already regretting this conversation. he shouldn't be talking about this in a public space.

he looks around to the people minding their business and jaehyun leans closer to continue speaking. "but, yeah, so, why do you ask?"

"uh, when you say i had too much fun… exactly how much fun did i have?"

jaehyun shakes his head and looks up for a moment, like he can't believe what he just heard. well, it's not like dongmin would really believe this if he didn't have the small slivers of memory that he does.

"you don't even remember beer pong?"

"i remember the start of beer pong. then i went to the kitchen to find bin with younghoon and lee jaehyun and then it's all a blur from there."

"he goes by hyunjae," jaehyun says. dongmin furrows his eyebrows. "no, really, i was here first. we call him hyunjae."

"...and we call you woojae."

he shakes his hand dismissively. "what exactly do you need help remembering anyway?"

dongmin clears his throat. "it seems i found myself intoxicated enough to— do some questionable things. things i would not normally do."

jaehyun guffaws loudly.

about ten heads turn to them with annoyance and someone shushes them. jaehyun covers his mouth and starts packing his things in between soft chuckles. "we should discuss this outside," he manages to wheeze out.

dongmin frowns but follows jaehyun out of the library, trying not to get panicky. they don't go far, jaehyun goes around the building and walks up to a few stone tables that are behind the building, where students like to study during good weather. it isn't a good weather day; it's cloudy and all too dark for only being 4pm, but it doesn't look like it'll rain soon and it works in their favor that there isn't a lot of people out here because of it.

jaehyun puts his bag on the bench and sits on the tabletop, patting the space next to himself so dongmin knows to follow. he doesn't. dongmin sits on the bench, next to jaehyun's feet, and looks up at his friend in expectation.

"well?" he asks. dongmin might be scared of the answer— but he's still too curious for his own good.

jaehyun chuckles again. "well, i don't know much about what you did after we were done with beer pong, but i did see you in the kitchen with younghoon and hyunjae, and you and bin were looking pretty chummy with them."

and jaehyun said all of that with a smirk and dongmin leans closer still. "right, but why is that funny?"

"you don't know?"

dongmin throws his arms up, leaning away. "yah, if i knew would i be asking??"

"fair enough." jaehyun shrugs. "it's just that they're, you know— known for being, sort of…"

dongmin's jaw drops at the way jaehyun trails off; can't he see how anxious dongmin is??? "sort of _what?"_

"you're really making me say this," he mumbles. "they sleep around?? c'mon, min, you must've heard of this, they've probably slept with half of our year already."

_"they cheat?"_ dongmin's head goes up in knots. "no, wait, do they have an open relationship?"

"yes to the latter, i guess? but they don't go around on their own, they do it together."

the knots tighten further.

"oh. so they have threesomes."

"there there." jaehyun pats dongmin's shoulder. "don't hurt yourself thinking so hard, pretty boy."

dongmin wants to argue but his mind is going too fast.

so when he got into the kitchen hyunjae and younghoon had been trying to pick up bin. he knows he's supposed to react to this a certain way, with some form of jealousy? but he feels his face heat up again and his heart speeds in his chest and he guesses this ain't it.

_"half of our year?"_

"ok, _maybe_ not half yet, i only know of two people for sure, but everyone knows this! i'm surprised this went completely under your radar. we've all done something or other with them."

"...right." dongmin says slowly. "you too?"

jaehyun puts his chin on his hand and ponders for a moment. dongmin knows that jaehyun is not the kiss and tell type, and he wouldn't normally ask, but— truly, how has he never heard about this? sure, he studies a lot, but jaehyun is pre-med too!

"let's say i've never not made out with hyunjae."

where did jaehyun find the time????

"lee jaehyun and jung jaehyun hooked up. that's so narcissistic but it's totally in your brand."

jaehyun pulls a _what can i do_ face and just says "he goes by hyunjae."

so. hyunjae and younghoon had really been hitting on bin when he arrived in the kitchen. he actually does remember that; it's one of the few things that he does. he remembers getting there and how weird his former schoolmates had been about it at first. but then he also remembers licking salt out of lee hyunjae's stomach and— dongmin squeezes his eyes shut and shakes his head. goodness. he crossed all boundaries on saturday. he doesn't think he had ever been that drunk in his life before and now he can never talk to hyunjae or younghoon ever again. period.

jaehyun pats dongmin on the shoulder. "you don't need to be ashamed of anything. they're hot and we're all legal out here."

"very reassuring."

"i do my best." jaehyun shrugs. "so, what got your panties in a twist? did they hit on your boyfriend?"

"i'm… not sure."

"then they didn't. trust me, they're not subtle, you would know." and there is jaehyun laughing again and, honestly, dongmin has half a mind to tell him to go fuck himself. can't he see that dongmin is in the middle of a crisis here??

"no, it's more— more that i think they were hitting on the both of us."

" _oh._ " jaehyun closes his fist in front of his mouth and narrows his eyes, slowly looking at dongmin up and down. the movement is deliberate and long enough for dongmin feel himself blushing further.

"oh my god, jaehyun, shut up!"

"i literally didn't say anything just now."

"i could tell you were thinking it!"

"what? the four of you are hot, it's not my fault."

jaehyun shrugs and dongmin's face is so hot that there's no way that he doesn't look like a fucking tomato right now. it's too much.

"this is too much." dongmin gets up. "thanks for the help, i guess."

"hey, always glad to be of service. also, you should check the photos from saturday that bambam took, maybe it'll trigger your memory."

dongmin's left eye twitches. he almost tells jaehyun to go fuck himself, he really _almost_ does it. only reason he doesn't is because it's not the type of thing he says and he knows that jaehyun is just going to laugh at his face for it, so instead, dongmin turns around and leaves. he's not going to check any pictures, he's heard enough.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic is being written purely to indulge myself so if you're actually reading this, bless you.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "hi." bin cups dongmin's cheek and kisses him. "missed you today."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> monday update!

dongmin is focused on his homework when he hears the sound of keys and then of their front door opening and closing.

"i'm home!" comes bin's voice.

dongmin fetches his phone to check the time. it's 8pm already, it's later than he thought. "welcome!"

he hasn't been making much progress on his homework for the past hour and this essay isn't even due for another week, so he saves what he wrote and starts closing all the tabs he has open; he's not getting anything done as is, he can finish this tomorrow.

"hey," bin comes to kiss dongmin on the cheek and drops a large duffle bag by the foot of the couch dongmin's leaning on and then flops on it. his hair is wet and he smells like deodorant and body wash. dongmin leans onto him, resting his head on bin's stomach.

"hey, where have you been?"

bin starts running his fingers through dongmin's hair. "i did the swim team try outs today.'

"really? you didn't say you were going to."

"yeah, i wasn't, but i ran into younghoon-hyung today at lunch and he told me they were going to have them tonight so i decided to give it a go and stopped by for my stuff after class."

dongmin hums, turning so he can look up at bin's face. his boyfriend has his phone out and is scrolling through it.

"did you make it?"

"yeah, sure." he answers distractedly.

dongmin sits up until he can flop his head and arms over bin's stomach with a whine. bin chuckles and drops his phone on the couch, turning his attention to dongmin with a fond smile.

"sorry, i should have told you i was going to try outs."

"no, that's not it. you don't have to tell me all your stuff."

bin buries both of his hands on dongmin's hair, scratching his scalp. "then what?"

"just wanted some attention."

"you big baby." bin chuckles. "come here."

dongmin complies right away and gets up so he can lie down on top of bin completely, burying his head on his boyfriend's neck. to his merit, bin only huffs at the added weight on top of him and then shifts around until they're both comfortable on the too small couch.

"congrats on making the team. when's practice?"

"thanks." bin starts rubbing dongmin's back up and down. "monday to friday at 6pm and then saturdays at 1pm."

"won't that get in the way of your classes work load?"

"i'm only a freshman, it won't be a problem."

"hmkay." dongmin puts his hands on bin's chest and pushes up a bit until he can look at his boyfriend's face. "hi."

"hi." bin cups dongmin's cheek and kisses him. "missed you today."

"sap." dongmin smiles but gives bin another kiss before lying his head on his chest. so, "who else is on the team?"

"younghoon-hyung, woojae-hyung and sicheng-hyung."

"no other freshmen?

"right, yeah, there's adachi yuto, a japanese exchange student i don't know but also chwe hansol, minghao-hyung's new boyfriend, remember him?"

"sure." dongmin closes his eyes for a moment, basking in the attention. "you'll be spending a lot of time with them."

"hm, you jealous?"

dongmin shrugs a bit. "how was younghoon when you talked to him?"

"normal, i guess? what do you mean?"

"i mean, he and his boyfriend were hitting on you at the party."

bin stops rubbing dongmin's back and moves until he can look at his boyfriend's face. "what?"

"i think they maybe hit on me too? but i was too drunk to be sure. but on you? yep, totally sure. they even looked kind of guilty when i entered the kitchen."

"whoa." bin whispers. "younghoon-hyung treated me completely normal today, i wonder if he doesn't remember it?"

"woojae says that this is something they do regularly."

dongmin takes a moment to tell bin about the conversation he had with jaehyun the day before and bin is shocked and quiet all the way through it.

" that's so wild, i thought people only did that, like, on tv shows or fanfics."

"i know right? uhm, you're okay with training with younghoon, then?"

"yeah, i guess. he was cool today, so i'm cool too."

dongmin nods and rests his chin on bin's chest. "he's a cool guy, right?"

bin frowns and lowers his head to look at dongmin. the angle gives him a double chin and it's kind of endearing in dongmin's eyes. "you're acting weird. are you jealous or something?"

"am not!" bin raises his eyebrows at the outburst. "no, i mean, of course i'm not jealous. i just think younghoon is really pretty."

bin narrows his eyes. "are _you_ trying to make me jealous by saying that?"

dongmin narrows his eyes back. "you don't get jealous."

"neither do you. that's why i said you're acting weird, you never call anyone pretty. much less _really pretty."_

dongmin shrugs and buries his head back on bin's neck. "it's not that deep, dude."

"if you say so."

"i say so."

"okay, then."

bin goes back to petting dongmin's hair and in the comfortable silence that follows, one could almost hear the screeching inside dongmin's brain.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah, yes, Boy Cuddling on Sofas™. my brand lives on.  
> also, the next chapter is a fun one, keep an eye out for it!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> younghoon smiles and then wiggles his eyebrows making bin laugh and roll his eyes. younghoon has been teasing him since earlier saying he's make bin eat dust in the pool, which was not only unfair since bin hadn't trained in a while but it is also impossible to make someone eat dust while swimming. honestly, younghoon doesn't even have his puns in order why is bin giving him any of his time at all is beyond him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> monday update :)  
> i had so much fun writing this chapter! this entire fic is dumb and self-indulgent af but damn it sure feels good to just write whatever i want :')

bin stretches his arms one more time, rolling his right shoulder a bit more thoroughly. he felt a kink there during warm-up and doesn't want to get any cramps over practice. he finishes his stretching and squeezes his eyes trying to read the board where today's workout is scribbled.

he can't see the white board at all from his lane, and so bin looks around the pool to try to gauge what everyone else is doing.

"400 meters freestyle," younghoon says next to him, while slipping his goggles on.

swim practice is in the indoor olympic sized pool their school has, with eight lanes. freshmen and juniors share lanes as a general rule and bin didn't mind when younghoon jumped in next to him, so things are working out fine.

"thanks, hyung."

younghoon smiles and then wiggles his eyebrows making bin laugh and roll his eyes. younghoon has been teasing him since earlier saying he's make bin eat dust in the pool, which was not only unfair since bin hadn't trained in a while but it is also impossible to make someone eat dust while swimming. honestly, younghoon doesn't even have his puns in order why is bin giving him any of his time at all is beyond him.

either way, bin's first practice seems to be a standard one and the coach didn't even join them today, so bin gets ready by the edge of the pool and looks at the general direction of the first lane. he hasn't bought himself goggles yet so he's opting out of wearing his contacts knowing he'd lose them while swimming; he had thought he wouldn't need to _see_ during swim practice. he's regretting that decision already. they're all supposed to start their runs at the same time, but bin can't even see everyone right.

johnny seo, captain and senior member of the team, is in the first lane (that he gets all to himself) finishing up his stretches. he's a blur in bin's eyes, but when the captain does his countdown and yells, _ready, set, go!_ it's quite easy to follow.

sharing a lane with younghoon turns out to be really good, because the senior is _fast_ , and it makes bin train harder than he otherwise would have, not wanting to be left behind. bin might be a bit rusty, but years of conditioning his muscles kick in and he's keeping up in no time.

practice never let's up— after the first 400 meters, they only catch their breath before jumping into eight sets of 25 meters. they're supposed to focus on technique and bin goes for backstroke, his weakest style. after doing some arm and leg focused laps, they go into a brutal set of slow and fast laps without any breaks in between other than johnny yelling out the next instructions (he always finishes first, the damn star athlete), and no one's even supposed to stop long enough to look into the board before setting off again.

all in all practice is fun as hell but also exhausting. by the time they hit the showers, bin is tired enough to sleep on his feet.

which he almost does— he stands under the hot shower and leans his forehead against the wall and stays there until someone gives his ass a loud slap and he nearly jumps out of his own skin.

"that's sexual harassment!" is what he yells automatically, because what the fuck??

he turns around to find half the team snickering in varying degrees of undress. jaehyun, yuto and sicheng are all in the front, and being the ones bin knows the longest, he guesses the slap came from one of them, but it's younghoon that speaks up. "who showers without taking their swim trunks off?"

bin doesn't even bat an eye before speaking. "gee, hyung, if you're so eager to see my dick all you had to do was ask."

and to the entire team howling and laughing their asses off, bin leans down and takes his swim trunks right off. by the time he takes it and tosses in the direction of younghoon's head, everyone has already turned away, making disgusted noises. younghoon already had his back turned, his ears so read they look like they're about to fall off, when the trunks hit his back with a wet slap.

bin turns off his shower and is picking up his towel to dry himself when younghoon looks up from the wet trunks on the floor and straight into bin's eyes. he doesn't look down in the slightest, but it's not lost on bin how very naked he is, and how often he _will_ be naked in front of younghoon from now on as they're now in the swim team together.

all the triumph of making younghoon blush is lost on bin when he's finally alone in the shower area and picks up his swim trunks on the floor. the joke is all on him.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as usual, lemme know if you're reading/enjoying this! thanks~


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dongmin leans in and steals a kiss from bin. "think we should talk about this?"
> 
> bin nods slowly, his eyes far away in the direction younghoon and hyunjae walked off to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> monday update!

"should we get this?" bin shows up next do dongmin while he's busy reading the label of a fabric softener (the one they usually get is sould out), and waves a box of frozen fish cakes at eye level.

"hm," dongmin nods, ducking a bit so he can keep reading the label. "it can be dinner."

"nice!" bin tosses it on their cart and goes off again.

after dongmin finishes reading the label and comparing a few other brands, he picks the one he thinks is best and continues to the next aisle. their method for grocery shopping is dongmin will go through the aisles in order and cross the items on their list one by one, whilst bin goes off on his own and adds whatever he thinks they need. then when they're done they can look at everything and compare what they _want_ from what they _need most_ and then proceed to pay.

it has been argued that bin randomly adding stuff to their cart could mean they get more unnecessary things, but sometimes you just need fishcakes more than you need granola bars and that's okay.

dongmin pushes their cart out of the cleaning supplies aisle and starts looking for bin. he's done with their list, so he just needs to check if his boyfriend thinks they need anything else and so they can go over all they picked up and see if it fits their budget.

he finds his boyfriend in no time, the mart they're in is not big and bin is easy to spot with his pink hair. he's standing in the middle of the snacks aisle, talking to someone. not just anyone, though, bin is talking to none other than with younghoon and hyunjae, and just as dongmin is looking, younghoon slaps bin's arm playfully, while hyunjae tosses his head back, cackling.

dongmin sort of stops walking and watches. both of the actions he just witnessed were flirtatious. younghoon is laughing too, but he's way more subdued than his boyfriend and dongmin can't hear his giggles in the distance. dongmin tilts his head and looks them all from head to toe. objectively speaking, both of them, younghoon and hyunjae, are very attractive. not to mention bin. they're almost overwhelming to look at even if they're just standing there.

bin slaps away younghoon's arm that had been lingering on his shoulder and goes into a defensive boxer stance, shielding his face and throwing punches that don't hit younghoon at all. the entire exchange would look playful and innocent to any bystander, but dongmin has context now.

they're flirting. all three of them are hitting on each other— figuratively and literally. bin's way of flirting has always been the same; he goes into full on puppy mode at first when he's interested in someone, he's playful and neutral, trying to assess his bearings, and only when he feels validated does he slip into his more... sultry approaches.

dongmin's jaw sort of drops but he's also kind of smiling too. he covers his mouth and stifles his giggle as hyunjae dramatically throws himself in front of younghoon and mock fights bin, protecting his boyfriend when bin feigns a knee kick. dongmin's other hand flies to his chest, and he clutches his shirt right over his heart. they're _so_ cute. he can't handle this. they need to stop or— never stop. he's not sure which option would be more trying on his poor heart.

hyunjae manages to slip around and puts bin in a headlock. they're being loud and an older woman walks past them looking amused but confused, she has to side-step dongmin with his shopping cart, and he bows his head, getting out of the way, and that's when younghoon looks over and sees him.

dongmin feels his ears start burning almost like a conditioned response. he raises his head anyway, and walks up to them as dignified as he can.

"hyunjae-ah, why are you trying to kill my boyfriend?" is what he says when he's within earshot.

that makes hyunjae drop his arms from around bin's neck immediately and look at dongmin as if he was just caught doing something naughty that's going to keep him from getting a golden star at the end of the day.

bin sticks his tongue out at hyunjae, gives his shoe a kick for good measure, then goes to hang himself from dongmin's shoulders. he kisses dongmin's cheek once and croons, "look who i found!"

"i can see." dongmin pats bin's head, amused at hyunjae pouting and crossing his arms.

"hi!" younghoon says with a delighted eye-smile. "it's so funny to run into each other like this!"

"yeah," dongmin smiles back with his eyes too.

hyunjae frowns from younghoon to dongmin and makes a small wounded noise and moves closer to his boyfriend to take the basket with their groceries from younghoon's hand.

"bin was telling us how you two live outside campus, right?" dongmin nods to younghoon's need for validation. "ugh, i wish we could have a kitchen, we're just perpetually having cereal for breakfast for the rest of our college careers since we can't even have milk without a fridge."

"you two should come for breakfast," dongmin says, making bin turn to look at him.

his amusement confuses dongmin until he looks over at younghoon and hyunjae and sees the surprised expressions they're trying to supress as well.

"right now?" hyunjae asks, in a small voice.

"jae has work," younghoon adds, sounding disappointed.

"i don't know what's best," bin starts, slowly. "min inviting people for actual breakfast instead of breakfast for dinner, or you two thinking it means right this moment but— also until morning, apparently?" bin laughs at this, earning one glare and two confused looks. he always marvels at how dongmin manages to glare even when he's blushing so much. a master of literally blushing furiously.

"hyunjae has sundays off!" younghoon blurts.

hyunjae, on the other hand, has not stopped looking completely panicked ever since dongmin joined them.

"how does seven sound?" bin suggests, to which younghoon replies with a nod. "good, i'll text you the address, hyung."

"it's a date." younghoon winks and pulls hyunjae by the collar, they both wave as they leave— or, as they make a run for it, it's what looks more like with how fast they walk past dongmin and his cart.

bin let's go of dongmin's arm and steps in front of his boyfriend so their eyes meet. "it's a _date."_

dongmin nods. "i heard him." he leans in and steals a kiss from bin. "think we should talk about this?"

bin nods slowly, his eyes far away in the direction younghoon and hyunjae walked off to.

 

they don't talk about it.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't forget to kudo and commenntttt


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> if hyunjae is not being weird about it then dongmin sure as hell isn't going to be the one to let himself clam up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hadn't really meant for this chapter to turn out like this but,,,, when i put these two together this just happens-- it might be about how _i_ personally feel about them both and why this fic even exists in the first place but idk take from it what you will

"hi."

dongmin doesn't look up at first.

he's focused enough on his textbook that the voice seems far away and not directed at him. he bites the end of his highlighter while he rereads a sentence. it's tricky and he thinks this will be asked in his final, so he takes the highlighter out of his mouth and strikes through the entire sentence.

"hm, sorry, i'll go."

dongmin furrows his eyebrows. that sounded like it was directed at him. he looks up to see hyunjae turning away from him.

as a reflex he reaches out to keep hyunjae from waking away, making him turn around with a shocked expression and look down at their joined hands. he hadn't meant to grab his hand but dongmin isn't about to be the one to be weird about it. he looks down too and watches hyunjae turn his palm up and intertwine their fingers and then look up at dongmin's face, an expression that speaks volumes about rising up to the challenge.

dongmin stares at their hands for another split second and then meets hyunjae's eyes. they're effectively hand holding— for no reason at all. and it's not _not_ nice and dongmin doesn't want to be the first one to let go for the sole reason of not wanting to make hyunjae feel awkward about it. there's nothing weird about randomly holding hands. if hyunjae is not being weird about it then dongmin sure as hell isn't going to be the one to let himself clam up. that is the _only_ reason he gives a barely there squeeze back.

"what's up?" dongmin asks.

he's been studying for a couple of hours already, on one of the stone tables situated behind the main campus library. coincidentally the same one he and jung jaehyun sat on to talk about, well, about the dude currently standing in front of him. and his boyfriend, younghoon.

"oh," hyunjae pushes his hair off his forehead with his free hand— a nervous habit. an _attractive_ nervous habit. "nothing much, i was just passing by, saw you and thought i'd say hi."

dongmin smiles. "hi."

their fingers are still intertwined.

hyunjae nods. he looks lost and as if he's trying hard not to think about it.

"you should sit." dongmin pulls hyunjae by the hand until he sits down next to him on the bench, his back against the table.

the way they're sat facing opposite directions means they're effectively facing each other while _still_ holding hands and it just makes the moment feel way more… well, intimate.

"what are you studying?" hyunjae blurts out, eyes a bit wild.

"uh, it's anatomy stuff." hyunjae makes a noise of understanding and leans back to look at the book open on the table. the movement brings dongmin's attention to hyunjae's neck and dongmin trails off for a couple of seconds. "...it's kicking my ass, i'll probably have bin help me with this later. he's a freshman but he's already better at it."

hyunjae recoils at the sound of bin's name, his hand sort of spasming involuntarily. dongmin frowns and runs his thumb over hyunjae's knuckles in a soothing motion.

"oh," hyunjae says, but it sounds that, much like the way his hand moved, he didn't mean to let the sound escape.

dongmin continues rubbing circles over hyunjae's knuckles, watching him closely. he's right about this.

"bin likes you," is what he says eventually, in a conversational tone. "he talks about younghoon a lot, but he's so excited about the _two_ of you coming over. he might stress clean the entire apartment before sunday."

dongmin cocks his head lower to look into hyunjae's eyes and their gazes meet. he can see the exact moment realization settles over hyunjae.

dongmin wishes he could say that he's not aware of what he's doing, that it's involuntary, too. but the way he puts his chin on his free hand and leans against the table and closer still to hyunjae to look at his mouth is _very_ deliberate. and then he basks in the satisfaction of seeing hyunjae gulp, bodily squirming under his stare.

dongmin and bin have yet to discuss what all of this means, but dongmin feels like he's been getting to know younghoon through his boyfriend as bin spends more time with him during and after swim practice, always telling him everything about it afterwards. the same can't be said about hyunjae. this is only their second time meeting after the party— but hyunjae always looks so nervous whenever dongmin talks to him. come to think of it, it's always been like this. that's why they never talked much in high school or even after they entered the same university; hyunjae always looked so constipated around him that dongmin used to think hyunjae didn't want to talk to him. now he's starting to think a little differently.

dongmin is curious. and whenever he's curious about something he can never put it down until he's figured it out. it's not lost on him, though, how hyunjae hasn't said much of anything ever since he sat down. dongmin might be coming off a bit too strong. he let's go of hyunjae's hand, albeit he didn't want to, and leans a bit away, leaving more room to breathe between them.

"i like you!" hyunjae blurts out. "i mean!" hyunjae hastens to add, raising his hands. "you've been really cool since school! and i've always wanted to talk to you! but you're so pretty!" dongmin's mouth falls open with shock. hyunjae takes a deep breath before continuing in a milder tone. "you were always really cool and i didn't know how to approach you and at the party i swear we had no idea that you were bin's boyfriend and i was worried you'd hate me for trying to hit on him." hyunjae stops talking with a flinch and his ears are bright red in embarrassment but he doesn't look away.

dongmin shakes his head after a moment processing what he just heard. even with hyunjae trying to conceal it, his chest is going up and down with labored breathing as if he just ran a marathon. "i don't hate you." dongmin says and runs a hand through his hair and laughs a little. "in fact, it's the opposite, i'd like to get to know you better, too, since bin and younghoon have been talking so much."

hyunjae smiles, teeth and everything, and he's so cute that dongmin damn near melts.

"that would be nice." hyunjae nods. "i don't really have any free time before sunday, thought."

"ah. that's right.", that's why they're only seeing each other then. dongmin frowns for a moment, but doesn't let it get to him. he takes his phone off his pocket and hands it to hyunjae. "give me your number, we can at least text, right?"

hyunjae beams some more, "right."

dongmin is threading unknown territory out here. he hasn't discussed this with bin yet but he's pretty sure that what he's doing isn't wrong, not with how _close_ younghoon and bin have been getting. they haven't discussed this, so _pretty sure_ is not enough to make decisions on. this is still innocent, though. he did just blatantly flirt with someone else's boyfriend, when he has a steady boyfriend of years himself, and it's all very confusing, because. well, it just is. ask anyone about this situation and he knows he won't get a lot of positive feedback. but he knows bin like the back of his hand and he's got to admit that—

hyunjae finishes writing up his number and after calling himself to get dongmin's number as well, he hands the phone back. his smile is easy and even though his posture is still a little anxious, he looks at ease with what's going on, like dongmin's the one that makes him nervous and not the _situation_ itself, so dongmin hopes he's reading all of this right. gosh, he really does.

"i'll— i'll leave you to study now." hyunjae mumbles, getting up and then leaving after a little wave.

dongmin smiles and waves too and then stares down at all the photos on his book and drawings on his notes. he can't focus anymore. he and bin should've talked this through right after the party. or after younghoon started seeing bin semi-naked on an almost daily basis. i mean, bin knows he isn't jealous and it's totally fine with him talking and spending time with younghoon, of course that much is clear, but this?

dongmin rubs his face and thinks about the way he couldn't keep himself from staring at lee hyunjae's mouth. this situation is _something_ something. he starts organizing his things back into his bag so he can go home already. they have to talk about this as soon as possible, no more postponing it.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gimme some feedback, i live off that stuff!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in a minute dongmin will be home and bin will be there and they _will_ talk about—this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sooo sorry it took me this long to update!!! life happened :( but enjoy The Talk!

somedays dongmin really wishes he didn't have to go up so many flights of stairs to get to their apartment. he only runs into one neighbor on his way, the old lady from apartment 32, and even though dongmin bows and greets her properly, it doesn't distract him from the nervous loop of thoughts that have been swirling through his head ever since he said bye to hyunjae.

in a minute he'll be home though and bin will be there and dongmin _will_ talk to him about— this.

their place isn't very close to campus, meaning that dongmin also suffered overthinking through the entire bus ride. they live on the rooftop unit of a five storey building without elevators, but their apartment is spacious with a bedroom separated from a decent sized kitchen-living room area and they have the terrace all to themselves. they'd never get a place like this closer to campus. and to be honest dongmin is so used to all the stairs by now that he barely breaks a sweat going up, so it's worth it.

the moment he opens the door of the apartment he's welcomed by the smell of food. it's something with onions and it makes his mouth water immediately.

"i'm home!" he calls as he bends to untie his shoes.

bin's voice rings back right away. "welcome!"

it makes dongmin smile and soothes him right away. very few things beat coming home to his boyfriend as a way to realize that he's being a colossal dumbass. he just has to talk to bin and everything is going to get better. it's the way things have always been, he's sure nothing's going to change now.

he leaves his backpack by the couch and goes into the kitchen. "hey, bin?"

"hm?" bin turns to him from the stove and smiles. "hey hot stuff, gimme a smooch."

dongmin smiles back, it's basic reflex by now— if bin smiles, dongmin smiles too. and he goes and gives his boyfriend a kiss. "watcha cooking?"

"just some kimchi fried rice, figured you'd be home any minute now."

"oh, yeah, i was just at the library for a bit."

which is not untrue.

"figured. you can go wash up if you want but dinner is almost ready."

"kay, thanks."

dongmin gives bin's cheek another kiss and leaves to the bathroom. he's still nervous, but just coming home is enough to keep him from freaking out. he takes a very quick shower and changes into whatever is more comfortable so he can go back into the kitchen as quick as possible. he finds himself… anxious, but not in a freaking out way anymore, he's always been able to read his boyfriend well, so he believes he's not too far off with this. even, so…

dongmin and bin sit down by their small foldable table and eat and talk about their day. or more, bin talks about his day. about a group project he's been doing and how the other people aren't listening to him but bin is not bothered enough to correct them since they'll still be graded individually. about the swim practice in the morning and how he and hansol pranked yuto, the japanese exchange student, by hiding his towel and making him try to air dry for around 5 minutes.

bin stops talking and puts his chin on his hand, elbow on the table. "what's on your mind, hyung? you're too quiet."

dongmin grimaces. "i didn't mean to be weird."

"i know, that's alright. what is it?"

dongmin puts his chopsticks down and mimics bin's pose after pushing his bowl away. "hyunjae stopped by to talk to me while i was studying." bin nods with one of his chill close lipped smiles, it's to encourage dongmin to keep going, and he does. "we exchanged numbers." dongmin stops and waits for bin's reaction.

after a moment bin furrows his eyebrows. "and?"

dongmin let's out a puff of air, a good chunk of tension being released with it. "i wanted to talk to you about hyunjae and younghoon coming over on sunday."

"oh." bin rights his posture and pushes his own bowl and cutlery away so he can rest both arms on the table. "what about it?"

dongmin rights his posture too and places hands on the table, hands opened loosely. easy for grabs.

"you've getting _really_ close to younghoon and you know i've been alright with it, i like hearing about him and… the two of you i guess. but when i saw hyunjae earlier today i realized that i want to _get to know_ him too."

"uh, yeah. he's coming on sunday too so that'll be okay."

dongmin nods, biting his lips. "i'd like to get to know him the same way you're getting to know younghoon."

bin looks confused. "i want to get to know him too."

dongmin feels his chest constrict. it's okay, he can do this. "like… on my own, i want to eventually know both hyunjae and younghoon well too. if that's okay with you."

"hyung, you're not making sense." bin reaches across the table and takes dongmin's hand. "on sunday we can all get to know each other better." bin squeezes dongmin's hand. "unless you don't want me around for that?" dongmin almost jumps out of his skin.

"that's not it!" dongmin's chin drops. "i meant the four of us!" his voice echoes in the kitchen and dongmin flinches at bin's confused expression. "fuck it, why am try to go around this? what i _meant_ _is,"_ dongmin knows he's about to start rambling, but like a trainwreck, there are some things that cannot be stopped. "you want to be more than friends with younghoon, right?" and dongmin sees bin's eyebrows go up but he keeps going, now looking anywhere but at his boyfriend's face. "and i feel like maybe i want that with hyunjae too— and younghoon sounds amazing from what the way you talk about him and that's how i know you're attracted to him and today i realized that i'm _really_ attracted to hyunjae, too! but it's confusing because i love you to the moon and back a thousand times?? but they're both so hot???" dongmin rubs his face in exasperation. "and you're already like the hottest person alive, dude. i don't know how i'm gonna handle this."

bin snorts. it makes dongmin look back at him and see that bin is smiling. that classic bin smile with his eyes almost squeezed shut and no teeth showing. it's the _oh god you're so dumb, min-hyung_ smile and it always oozes affection and it always soothes dongmin, and today is no different, because if bin is smiling like that, it means that dongmin certainly got something wrong on his ramble, but at least he's not in trouble for it.

at some point in his ramble bin started holding dongmin's hand in both of his and dongmin returns the gesture now, heart racing. he wants to ask questions or even try saying more things to… make sure everything is okay—or something. but dongmin forces his mouth shut and searches bin's face for any tells.

"are you done?" bin asks, to which dongmin nods. "good. okay, yeah, we should've discussed this sooner. it's kind of a crazy situation, right?" dongmin nods again. "we're in the same page though, you don't need to freak out."

dongmin waits another moment, to make sure that bin isn't saying anything else, until he speaks up again. "but what does this mean for us? is this just. uh. a sex thing?"

bin shrugs. "they're our friends though, aren't they?"

"i'm not sure? at least we're not all close yet." dongmin searches bin's face again. his heart is racing so much, he's terrified of saying the wrong thing. "bin, please, be really honest with me, what do you want?"

"you." bin's expression sets and he leans forward. "it's always you first. to the moon and back a thousand times, right? you don't have to worry about that."

"oh." dongmin let's out a heavy breath. then he laughs, because this is so absurd that they've said all this stuff and still things aren't making sense. his laughter doesn't last and he cleans his throat before continuing. "i'm a thousand times, too. just. what's best case scenario for you right now?"

bin thinks for a moment. which is good. dongmin is usually the one that changes his mind all the time, but that just means that he needs to feel reassured all the more that he isn't fucking things up. if you asked him a couple of weeks ago what he'd think about potentially opening his relationship with bin he would've said a hard **no.** dongmin's not surprised with his change of heart, how he saw how things could be hyunjae and got interested; he's always liked pretty things, but he's also aware how bad bin is at compromising. dongmin trusts bin, but damn, insecurities. so, he likes seeing his boyfriend think things over.

however, he likes it a lot more when bin's thinking doesn't take a whole moment in which dongmin's about to bounce out of his own skin with anxiety.

"i guess," bin finally says. "best case scenario is both of us get to fool around with younghoon-hyung and hyunjae-hyung sometimes without things getting complicated, but it's still just the two of us at the end of the day."

"so not like—not with other people in general?"

bin quickly shakes his head once. "no, i don't think so. no need."

"not an open relationship, then?"

"no, more like a relationship with two specific guests sometimes."

dongmin exhales another heavy breath. that he can do. "and you still feel the same about me?"

"dude.' bin gets up from his seat and pulls dongmin along, wrapping him into his arms and into a quick kiss. "stop with that, i'll get pissed if you start doubting me."

dongmin burrows his face on bin's neck, melting inside his boyfriend's arms. "won't happen again."

dongmin breathes bin's smell in and out. it's comfortable and safe and his heart is brimming with affection and love. he doesn't _ever_ want to risk what he has with bin, it's too precious, too important.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't forget to kudo and comment~ next chapter is the last one!


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